Health officials at the Chatham-Kent Health Alliance are likely breathing a sigh of relief thanks to a pause on the trade dispute between the United States and Canada.
With the United States being Canada’s largest trading partner for medical devices, Canadians would likely face a spike in health costs due to proposed tariffs by the American and Canadian governments.
Two days after US President Donald Trump imposed a 25 per cent tariff on Canadian goods, he announced late Monday an agreement had been reached with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, and the tariffs would be postponed for 30 days.
CKHA President and CEO Adam Topp said it’s hard to predict how a trade dispute would impact hospital operations and its supply chain should the tariffs resume next month.
“The truth is right now we’re not sure,” said Topp. “There’s a great deal of imported and exported medical equipment between Canada and the US, but we really don’t know how that’s going to affect us at this point in time.”
Topp said in the past, medical equipment has typically been exempt from tariffs between Canada and the U.S.
“The tariffs that we [would put] on items coming into Canada, if there are tariffs on medical equipment, that clearly would affect us,” he said.
Since Trump first threatened to impose tariffs on Canada, Topp said several companies have been lobbying for medical technology to be excluded. Import tariffs could impact the costs of medical equipment such as MRI machines, ventilators and wheelchairs.
